2 John 1:6

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The author writes to "the elect lady and her children" (2 John 1:1), urging mutual love as a commandment held from the beginning, not a new one. The exhortation lands immediately before a warning about deceivers who deny Christ's incarnation (v. 7).

The words — Peripatōmen (περιπατῶμεν) is a present subjunctive: "we may walk," marking ongoing embodied conduct rather than a single act or an inner state. Paired with kata (κατά, "according to"), it frames love as a direction of movement in relation to commandments.

The thread — 1 John 5:3 states the same equation ("this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments"), and John 15:10 ties keeping commandments to remaining in love. The phrase "from the beginning" in v. 6 echoes 1 John 2:24's "what you have heard from the beginning."

Why it lands — The verse refuses to let love float as sentiment; it is defined as walking in accordance with commandments. The reader is asked to treat love as a practice of conduct, not a feeling to be monitored.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Cross-references

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,
John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
1 John 2:24 As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father.
John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Galatians 5:13 For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
1 John 2:5 But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:
John 15:14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
Romans 13:8 Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
John 14:21 Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
2 John 1:5 And now I urge you, dear lady—not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.